I'm in Manhattan

I went to Mesa on Wednesday, had training on Thursday and Friday, hung around till Sunday, and then my flight left for New York this morning at 6:00am. I had to be out the door by 4:30. I'm a little tired, but good.

I took my first ever NY taxi to my apartment and went grocery shopping at the local Morton Williams market. That was interesting—the aisles there are so small that you could hardly pass by another person, even with your miniature carts. I have determined that you just can’t be fat and live in NY. :) I liked it, though, and I think I’m going to just love being here.

At first I thought that NY would be so scary, but it’s not as bad as I thought—just like walking in downtown Portland, OR. Harlem reminded me of my mission, although I think it’s probably more dangerous that the areas I was in.

It’s crazy how you go one or two blocks in one direction and all of a sudden you are in a scary part of town, but you head the other way, and you’re in the safest part of town. Do scary people not cross those imaginary boundaries or what? Weird. I’m on 113th and Harlem starts on 125th, but I feel totally safe here. Well, obviously it’s not Provo, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

My apartment is cute, and I like it a lot. I live in housing owned by Columbia University, so it’s safe, and a pretty decent place to live. It’s a block east of Broadway.

I’m trying to learn the subway system, but I know it’s going to take a while. The thing I’m worried about is getting off at an unsafe stop. I think that most of the childcare centers I will be auditing are in kind of sketchy areas, so that’s scary to me. I hope everything will be ok. By the end of the summer I think I will know the subway pretty well.

Can I just tell you how excited and frightened I am all at the same time?! I don’t know whether to cry or shout for joy. I’ll try to keep you all updated on how things are going and what I’m doing. If you’ve been to NY, tell me about the places I absolutely have to see.

Love you all!